This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.Much like modern humans, the Neanderthals roamed widely throughout Europe.We know because they left behind extensive evidence, usually bones or tools.But their cousins, the Denisovans, are more mysterious.Until recently, they were conclusively linked only to a single cave in southern Siberia, called Denisova Cave, between Kazakhstan and Mongolia.Scientists had found a finger bone, three teeth, and a piece of skull, which tipped them off to the existence of a whole new lineage of ancient human.Now, scientists have uncovered more of the range of the Denisovans, says Diyendo Massilani of the Max Planck Institute in Germany.His team turned up evidence the ancient humans occupied a high-mountain cave on the Tibetan plateau, called Baishiya cave."The cave belongs to monks, and monks think it's a very holy place."In fact, a monk found a piece of jawbone there in 1980, which has been tenuously linked to the Denisovans.But Massilani and his team have now unearthed more conclusive evidence by sifting through cave sediments, and sequencing the genetic evidence the Denisovans left behind."Body decay. Or people bleeding, or pooping, peeing there, they could leave their DNA."The DNA appears in layers―suggesting the Denisovans inhabited the cave as far back as 100,000 years ago, as well as at 60,000 years ago, and perhaps even as recently as 45,000 years ago―meaning the Denisovans might have overlapped in this region with modern humans.
这里是科学美国人――60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗・因塔利亚塔。尼安德特人和现代人一样也曾在欧洲各地游荡。我们知道，是因为他们留下了大量通常是骨头或工具的证据。但他们的表亲，丹尼索瓦人，却更神秘。直到最近，它们只被确定与西伯利亚南部的一个洞穴有关，这个洞穴叫做丹尼索瓦洞穴，位于哈萨克斯坦和蒙古之间。科学家们发现了一块指骨、三颗牙齿和一块头骨，这提示他们存在着一个全新的古人类谱系。德国马克斯・普朗克研究所的迪扬多・马西拉尼表示，现在，科学家们已经发现了更多丹尼索瓦人的活动范围。他的团队发现了古人类居住在青藏高原的一个高山洞穴的证据，这个洞穴被称为白石崖洞。“这个洞穴属于僧侣，僧侣们认为这是一个非常神圣的地方。”事实上，一名僧侣在1980年在那里发现了一块颌骨，这与丹尼索瓦人有微弱的联系。但马西拉尼和他的团队现在通过筛选洞穴沉积物，对丹尼索瓦人留下的基因证据进行排序，发现了更确凿的证据。“身体腐烂。 或者人们在那里流血、大便、小便，他们可能会留下DNA。”DNA分层出现，表明丹尼索瓦人早在10万年前、6万年前、甚至是最近的4.5万年前就居住在这个洞穴中，这意味着丹尼索瓦人可能在这一地区与现代人类重合。
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